Summer Begins

Its been a fruitful few weeks with spring reluctantly letting go of its moody ways for the reliable long warm days of summer. The summer solstice marked the longest day of the year...it also happened to be my 30th birthday. The insanely long daylight hours offered much time for reflection on 30 times around the sun. Within the dizziness one tries to formulate a timeline of such a swath of life and only comes up with imprints...impressions from the collective. So be it...life is here...now...and i suppose we can only grab onto the fact that all will change...necessarily, thank God. So what wisdom gained from making it this far down the road? Only that talk is cheap, experience is everywhere, and application is everything. Grow, grow, grow says the undercurrent of the living...and perhaps we have come to a point in our species development to know in what way...perhaps. I'm glad to know this way, to know what matters.

The farm has been filled with the excitement of summers growth. We are seeing everything reaching for the skies in a fast, furious race to reproduce. As a result of this new blast of growth, we are finally enjoying an abundance of food directly from the garden!

Broccoli is making a late but prolific appearance.


So too, our potato patch has been giving us beautiful young taters to get creative within the kitchen.

Shanna has been very busy with her new favorite pastime of canning and preserving, as well as turning milk into delightful home made yogurt and cheese. Among some of her recent accomplishments have been peach salsa, peach butter, apricot frozen yogurt, and dried apricots...which we will enjoy for months to come.

Shanna and I were also blessed with an appearance from three of our favorite friends from Tahoe which was a ton of fun. We look forward to more visits from our sierra lovelees. NewMoon represent!


My small but beautiful family also made it out to usher in my 30th. I love them all so much and it was truly a special occasion to have them on the farm, seeing whats important to me.
A couple trips to the coast

as well as a local vineyard rounded out a great visit.















Now its time to slather on the sunscreen and get back to work.
Love to all.

A Month of Growth

We've now been here a month and i cant help but wonder where the time has gone. Perhaps the old saying should be revised to “time flies when you work on a farm.” Its good work...and its hard work...and most often its good hard work. Sometimes its a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

Its incredible how much growth has occurred in the gardens in the past two weeks.







We are just seeing our first delectable heads of broccoli and squash coming through


and we just harvested our first onions and garlic of the season...




The potato field is thriving and just received its final installment of planting thanks in most par tto our newest addition to the farm, David Dutton.



Corn transplants have gone in and are off to the races as much of the grass family is this time of year
.


As well, we've had an absolute abundance of various lettuces and greens being sold at the farmers market and donated to the local food banks which is a big part of our mission out here...feed ourselves, feed the community
.


Its not all work though...we had a great visit with Shanna's mom Melody,

as well as an amazing trip to the coast for a healthy dose of negative ions...


Coastal flowers are popping right now which kept Shanna quite happy.



Beyond that weve had some lovely time with our favorite farmhand, Jackson...which often includes funky monkey dance sessions
and the always popular funny-face face offs...
and other critical matters of mind and body.


We do spend quite a bit of at home time researching various aspects of growing good food...,


cooking good food...



and eating good food...
.

Its a simple, gratifying life but someone has to do it.
Love to all.